Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James reacts after scoring during the second half of the team’s NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. The Lakers won 114-103. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

LOS ANGELES — If Luke Walton could re-run one sequence in every game for every offensive possession, it would probably look a lot like what happened in the closing minute of the first half on Friday night against the Mavericks.

Tyson Chandler grabbed a rebound and passed it to Lonzo Ball. After just one dribble, Ball hit Kyle Kuzma halfway down the court, and Kuzma immediately redirected to a streaking Brandon Ingram at the hoop.

This was Luke Walton's favorite sequence of last night: From the moment Tyson Chandler gets the rebound, four Lakers touch the ball in five seconds. The ball is dribbled once. It ends with a dunk. pic.twitter.com/S2xR0NqtSL

In all, the play took five seconds. The ball touched the court once. And at their best, that’s what the Lakers (13-9), rangy and athletic, are capable of. That’s what they want to do.

“I think we’re the best when we’re runnin’ and gunnin’ and just pushing the ball ahead,” Ingram said.

At least that’s how the Lakers might be best in theory. Because there’s been two versions of the Lakers in the last few weeks: the run-n-gun version, and the slow-it-down version. And ideologically, it might be a push-and-pull for the rest of the season as the Lakers attempt to determine their most competitive identity.

Since Rajon Rondo was hurt in mid-November, the team has slowed down, dropping from third in pace in their first 14 games (105.5 possessions per game) to 13th (101.3 ppg) in the last eight. That’s been accompanied by dips in fast-break points (22.5 to 17.5 FB points per game) and assist percentage (57.7 to 50.3) as the up-tempo, ball-movement oriented vision has been shelved at times.

Walton has described the tempo shift as being geared toward focusing on defense. But the characteristics of late have more in common with offenses of LeBron James teams of the past.

As far as pace goes, last year’s Cleveland Cavaliers were middle of the pack, finishing 12th. But in fast-break points and points in the paint, the Cavs finished way down in the rankings, 25th and 28th respectively.

The Lakers haven’t been moving that slow in the past eight games, but there have been nights – particularly when James takes the game over – when the pace has dipped below 100 possessions per game. Wins against Miami and Cleveland, when James was a standout and the main ball-handler, were the Lakers’ two slowest-paced games of the year.

It’s intriguing to note that the record between the Lakers’ 11 fastest games (6-5) and 11 slowest games (7-4) is close to the same. The tempo shift might best reflect who is controlling the game: While it seems counter-intuitive that James, who can fly in for dunks in the open court fast break, plays slow, the Lakers play at 104.6 possessions per game when he’s on the court and speed up to 109.4 when he’s off.

But there’s also no doubting that they can win that way: James has taken more pick-and-roll possessions and isolation possessions in the last stretch and become more effective. In November, his usage rating ticked up from 29 percent to 33 percent – higher usage than anyone in the NBA except James Harden) – and he saw his shooting percentage rise, particularly from three where he was over 42 percent.

His assists also dropped from 8 per game in October to 5.8 per game in November – there are more moments where James isn’t waiting for anyone else to take the wheel. After a win Thursday night over the Pacers in which James scored or assisted on the last 15 points of the game, he expressed his own surprise that his Lakers have played this way.

“I figured I wouldn’t have the ball in my hands as much coming into the season, knowing we have multiple ball handlers on our team with ’Zo and ’Do, BI, Lance (Stephenson), Kuz as well,” James said. “Those guys have the ability to make plays as well. But I’m available any time we need a play to be made. (It’s) something that for me is a challenge for me and is an adjustment for me.”

While there’s a certain amount of hand-wringing from the national punditry over the Lakers leaning on James this much, this is why the team got him: So he could take over as needed.

And yet for all of them, minutes and usage are down from last year. Whereas last season the young Lakers were more allowed to play through mistakes, this season there’s a tighter leash. Walton has struggled at times to find ways to close with Ball, particularly on the heels of unimpactful games. But even though Walton has wanted the tempo to increase recently and is looking for ways to dole out experience to younger plays, he acknowledged James will always carry the lion’s share on offense – that’s how his teams win.

“He’s always going to have a lot of responsibility because of how good he is,” Walton said. “And we’re going to continue to try to have other players make plays and I think we’re doing that.”

There were at least shades of that Friday, as Kuzma, Ingram and Ball all played key roles in closing out against the Mavericks. There was even a fourth-quarter moment in which Walton held off subbing James back in the game as a bench unit led by Josh Hart, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ingram kept building the lead.

In the end, it was the fourth-fastest game the Lakers had played all year, and perhaps one of their best across-the-board efforts. And as good as James still is, and as good as his slower-paced style can be at winning games, the Lakers want to see more speed in their future. Games like Friday’s might help that cause.

Even James knows that much.

“That’s what we do very well, that’s one of our strengths,” he said. “We’ve been defending at a very high clip lately, so when we get stops we’re able to get out and run with the athleticism and speed that we have.”

Kyle Goon covers the Lakers for the Southern California News Group. Before taking his talents to Los Angeles, he worked for The Salt Lake Tribune for eight years, covering everything from high school rodeo to the Utah Jazz. Gregg Popovich once baptized him by fire in a media scrum.

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